Preservation of the Bolsa Chica

A covey of dismaying comment has arisen in The Times and among Sen. Marian Bergeson watchers, and they’re barking up the right tree. But vainly. They’ve been decrying Sen. Bergeson’s whisperings with Signal Landmark Inc. on the matter of its destruction of Bolsa Chica wetlands. But the senator doesn’t listen.

Sen. Bergeson, affectionately known by the development industry as “Our Marian,” has been batting out bill after bill for this and that developer, oblivious to industry’s greed for profit off the land.

Now it’s the Bolsa Chica wetlands. In this particular caper, she’s batted out SB 1517, which would put restoration of the Bolsa Chica wetlands into the hands of Signal Landmark Inc.--the very firm that’s been hankering to develop these lands.

Lest one dismiss the people’s concern, the senator’s shocking vendetta against the environment presents a record of reckless and calloused disregard for open spaces.

For example, she once sought to explain her maneuvering in the Senate for the growth-inducing San Joaquin Freeway. Justifying her stand, she wrote that she experienced slow traffic driving north. Proof enough, right?

Yet most people I know view this 13-mile proposed freeway as a developers’ dream road, beginning nowhere, going nowhere, its only purpose being to open Orange County for buildings they would erect alongside.

To make the record even clearer, Sen. Bergeson was awarded an F grade by the honorable League of Women Voters for failure to support Orange County environmental quality.

TOM ALEXANDER

Laguna Beach